Front vs Missive

Front

• Support and operations teams working shared addresses at volume
• Companies that want email, chat, SMS and WhatsApp in one team inbox
• Teams that need ticketing, rules and reporting on top of email

Missive

• Small teams sharing addresses such as support@ or sales@
• Teams that want to discuss emails internally instead of forwarding them
• Businesses that also talk to customers over SMS, WhatsApp or live chat

Front

• There is no free plan; the 14-day trial is the only way to use Front without paying.
• Starter is capped at 10 seats and one channel type, and Professional at 50 seats.
• Copilot, Smart QA and Smart CSAT cost extra per seat on Starter and Professional.
• Enterprise is sold on annual billing only, and contracts over $25k must include a paid onboarding package.

Missive

• There is no free plan; once the 30-day trial ends a paid plan is required.
• Starter is limited to 5 users and leaves out integrations, rules, API access, the AI assistant and analytics.
• SAML single sign-on and IP restriction are only available on Business.
• Missive says it offers no discounts for students, nonprofits or schools, and yearly plans are not refundable.

Front

Shared inboxes

Team inboxes where incoming messages can be assigned and handled together, so everyone can see who is working on which conversation.

Omnichannel inbox

Professional and Enterprise combine email, SMS, Front Chat, WhatsApp and other channels in one place. Starter is limited to a single channel type.

Ticketing and automation rules

Ticketing for complex requests plus multi-step rules: up to 10 rules on Starter, 20 on Professional and unlimited on Enterprise.

Front AI

Autopilot resolves conversations from $0.05 each. Copilot ($20 per seat a month), Smart QA ($20) and Smart CSAT ($10) are add-ons that Enterprise includes.

Analytics

Reporting on team workload and support quality: basic analytics on Starter and advanced analytics from Professional.

Knowledge base and live chat

A no-code knowledge base and Front Chat let customers help themselves. Multi-language knowledge bases need Enterprise.

Missive

Shared inboxes and team spaces

Team inboxes sit next to personal accounts, grouped into team spaces. Conversations can be assigned to a person or a team, with controls over who sees what.

Internal discussion in threads

Teammates talk about an email in an internal conversation attached to the thread, so nothing has to be forwarded or CC'd.

Collaborative drafting

Several people can write the same reply together in real time before it is sent.

Rules and automations

Automate repetitive handling such as assigning or tagging with up to 1,000 rules. Rules are available from the Productive plan.

Multi-channel inbox

Email from Gmail, Microsoft 365, iCloud or any IMAP account appears alongside SMS, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and live chat conversations.

AI assistant and integrations

An AI assistant drafts and translates replies and can pull context from connected tools over MCP. It comes with Productive, along with 25+ app integrations and the API.

Front

• Starter$25

  per seat / month, billed annually

  Up to 10 seats. One channel type (email, Front Chat or SMS), shared inbox, ticketing, up to 10 automation rules and basic analytics.

• Professional$65

  per seat / month, billed annually

  Up to 50 seats. Adds omnichannel support, macros, up to 20 rules, advanced analytics, up to 5 workspaces, SSO and SCIM.

• Enterprise$105

  per seat / month, annual billing only

  Unlimited seats, rules and macros, smart rules, custom roles, and Copilot, Smart QA and Smart CSAT included.

Missive

• Starter$14

  per user / month, billed yearly ($18 billed monthly)

  Up to 5 users. Email, SMS and social accounts, team spaces and inboxes, conversations and tasks. No rules or integrations.

• Productive$24

  per user / month, billed yearly ($30 billed monthly)

  Up to 50 users. Adds integrations, rules and automations, the AI assistant, basic analytics, and API and MCP access.

• Business$36

  per user / month, billed yearly ($45 billed monthly)

  Unlimited users. Adds SAML single sign-on, IP restriction, advanced analytics and personalized team onboarding.

Front

• Annual discount

  Save 24% with annual billing

  Front's pricing page states a 24% saving for annual billing. The prices it lists for Starter ($25) and Professional ($65) are the annually billed rates per seat a month.

Missive

• Annual discount

  20% off with yearly billing

  Billed yearly, Starter is $14 per user a month instead of $18, Productive $24 instead of $30 and Business $36 instead of $45. Missive states the yearly saving as 20%.